Weed burner



Dec. 3, 1963 M. e. MERZ 3,112,742

WEED BURNER Filed-Oct. 9, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. MAX 6. ME RZ ATTORNEY Dec. 3,1963 M. ca. MERZ 3,112Q742' I WEED BURNER Filed Oct. 9, 1961 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 6.

INVEN TOR.

United States Patent 3,112,742 WEED EURIEZR Max G. Mcrz, 262$ lava Court, Beaver, Colo. Filed Get. 9, 1% her. No. 143,673 1%) Jlain'is. (-Cl. 126-4712) low production cost, and wide operative adaptability.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction and unitary operative correlation of elements and features constituent to a weed burner.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and operative combination of elements as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in the appended clahns, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a practical embodiment of the invention as organized ready for use, intermediate length portions of the organization not essential to an understanding or" the invention being broken away to conserve space.

FIGURE 2 is to top plan view of the assembly accordin g to FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary, detail section, on a relatively enlarged scale, taken substantially on the indicated line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 with a terminal deflector attachment omitted.

FEGURE 4 is a transverse section, on a further enlarged scale, taken substantially on the indicated line 4-4 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a detail, side elevational view of the elements and components represented by FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary, detail section, on a scale intermediate that of FIGURES 1 and 3, taken substantially on the indicated line 6-6 of FIGURE 1 with certain appurtenant features omitted.

FIGURE 7 is a rear end elevation, on the same scale as FlGURF. 6, of the arrangement according to FIG- URES l and 2 with the conventional engine unit largely omitted.

Apparatus units selectively adjustable in both vertical and horizontal planes on and with respect to a translatable mount organized to project flame applicable to the destruction of weeds and analogous natural growth are available in a considerable diversity of structure and a common like utility so long practiced and well understood as to preclude occasion for elaboration herein. Generally amenable to operative support upon and translation by automotive equipment of available type and characterized by a powered blower effective to project combustible, and other, vapors from a nozzle terminating an elongated conduit, the weed burner units hitherto known have been adaptable to deliver sprays, foams, and vaporous mixtures of appropriate specific properties when, where, and as desired, but factors of. excessive weight, high power requirements, initial cost, and inefficiencies of operation have much restricted the use of such equipment, and the instant invention is hence directed to structural reorganization, refinement, and improvement productive of a weed burner unit retaining all of the operative capabilities and advantages of analogous known equipment while obviating the major shortcomings of the latter.

A principal component of the improved weed burner is a straight, tubular conduit 10 of desired uniform bore size and a length many times its diameter adapted to support and operatively intercouple a powered blower unit 11 and a nozzle unit 12 in adjustable and detachable association with its opposite ends. Constituted from lightweight metal, such as aluminum, a conduit 10 having a bore diameter of three inches and a length approximately fifteen feet has proved to be efiicient and practical.

Comprised as an impeller 13 of effective conventional type rotatable Within a housing formed from complementary shell sections 14- and 15 conjoined in a usual manner by bolts 16, the blower unit 11 is distinctive in that the housing defines an impeller chamber eccentric with respect to the rotational orbit of the impeller and spirally divergent from the periphery of the impeller in a manner and to a degree effective to establish an output throat l7 tangential to the impeller which merges arcuately and away from the impeller with and for delive1y to a tubular sleeve continuation l8 radial of the impeller sized to telescopically receive, embrace, and clampably engage, as by means of bolts 19, with one end of the conduit it Applicable to intended use with its diameter perpendicular to the sleeve continuation 13 substantially horizontal, the blower unit 11 fixedly supports on its upper surface a power unit, such as a conventional internal combustion engine 2%), whereof the power output shaft 21 is disposed to perpendicularly traverse the blower housing in coaxial driving relation with the impeller 13 which is thereby associated for rotation Within and eccentrically of said housing in a manner to promote delivery of air under pressure through the sinuous passage provided by the throat l7 and sleeve continuation 18 to and for flow through the conduit 16, intake of air to the blower housing being accommodated through an open area in the lower surface of the housing beneath and concentric with the impeller. Suitably journaled, as in the hub 22 of a spider carried by the housing section 15, the power shaft 21 extends below the blower housing to driving connection with a pump 23 in suitable fixed relation, as by means of a bracket 24, with said housing and operable by virtue of shaft rotation to effect pressure delivery of fluid from a supply line 25 through an output line 26, such pumps with their appurtenant filters, valves, and regulators being conventional facilities commercially available in anexpedient range of capacities and adaptations suited for pressure delivery of various specific fluids.

The nozzle unit 12 featuring the invention consists of an elongated, tubular barrel 27 of a diameter greater than that of the conduit ll? furnished with a coaxial attaching sleeve 28 fixed in outward extension from one of its ends in a size to telescopically receive and exteriorly embrace the end of the conduit remote from the blower unit 11 and a tubular jet outlet 29 of a diameter approximating that of the conduit fixedly and coaxially projecting from its other end as the outer extremity of a frusto-conical connector 3t) convergent outwardly of the barrel 27. Removable and replaceable with respect to the delivery end of the conduit it), the nozzle unit 12 receives and transmits without obstruction the full flow capacity of the conduit on which it may be retained by the telescopic, frictional engagement of its sleeve 28 with the end of the conduit or, if preferred, by supplementary latch means of any expedient type and construction. When desired, deflection of the axially-directed outflow through the tubular jet outlet 29 is readily and adjustably had through the agency of a terminal deflector 31 separably and telescopically cooperable therewith as represented by FIGURES l and 2, a simple and practical form of such deflector comprising a short, tubular element 31' having one open end frictionally engageable over and rotatably about the jet outlet 29. a closure 31" obstructing its other end at an inclination to the axis of the element, and a discharge aperture intersecting the wall of the element to which said closure is acutely convergent, whereby, as is fully apparent, attachment of the defiector 31 to the jet outlet 29 in any desired rotational adjustment thereon serves to correspondingly direct the outflow from the nozzle unit 12 through the aperture of the deflector and at an angle laterally of the nozzle axis.

Spacedly parallel to and beneath the conduit 10, a reinforcing tube 32 smaller in'diameter and less in length than said conduit is coupled in supplementing relation there to and extends from clamped connection at one of its ends to a bracket 33 fixedly depending from the blower housing adjacent the outer end of the sleeve continuation 18 to yoked connection at its other end by means of a separable clamp 34 with a reach of the conduit inwardly from the end of the same adapted to serve the nozzle unit 12. At or near the approximate balance point in the length of the conduit, tube, blower unit, and nozzle unit assembly, a clamp comprised from complementary components 35 engages transversely of the conduit 19 and the tube 32 and adjustably yokes the same by means of bolts 36 coupling said components on the opposite sides of the conduit and tube. The components 35 extend beyond and radially of the tube 32 as juxtaposed lugs 35 constituting a web receivable in the upwardly-opening fork 37 or" a socket fitting 33 coactable with the upper end of a mounting staff 39 connectible at its other end, by any appropriate means and in any desired manner, to upstand vertically from a translatable support, such as an automotive, or other, vehicle, and a bolt 40 through said fork and the lugs 35' received there in pivotally couples said socket fitting to the clamp comprised from the components 35 and the assembly engaged thereby. Thus organized, and with the socket fitting 38 seated in engagement over the upper end of a suitably-arranged mounting staff 39, the assembly of conduit, tube, blower unit, and nozzle unit is substantially balanced on and relative to the mounting stall for convenient adjustment by an operator through horizontal arcs about the axis common to the staff and socket fitting and through vertical arcs about the pivotal connection provided by the bolt ill. Facilitating operative manipulation and adjustment of the mounted assembly with concomitant protection of the pump 23 and its appurtenances from inadvertent damage, a pair of parallel handles 41 conjoined by an integral how 42 defining a plane perpendicular to that of the handles is attached to the under surface of the blower housing shell 15 with the handles projecting therefrom parallel to and away from the conduit 19 and the said bow depending transversely of the blower housing below the lowermost of the pump and associated elements.

In addition to its function of reinforcing support for the length of the conduit 19, the tube 32 affords expedient protection and support for the output line 26 carrying the pressurized fluid delivery from the pump 23, it being convenient and eminently practical to pass said line 26 through the full length of the tube 32 and thence through a hole in the superjacent under wall of the conduit 16 to operative connection therewithin with fluid delivery jets 43 disposed to eflect discharge longitudinally and adjacent the end of the conduit serving the nozzle unit 12. When availed of for the application of non-flaming aerosols, sprays, foams, and the like, the organization shown and described is complete and ready for use when equipped with a pump 23, lines 25 and 26, and delivery jets 43 suited to transmit the agent to be applied, it being obvious that with the power unit 2% operating to drive the pump and the impeller the fluid agent available to the pump is ejected under pressure from the jets 43 within a blast of air maintained by the impeller through the conduit 16 wherewith and whereby the fluid agent is forcefully directed from the outlet 29, or

associated deflector 31, of the nozzle unit 12. Employed as a weed burner, the fluid supply is of combustible nature in proportioned admixture with air and requires ignition as it emerges from the jets 43 and enters the combustion chamber provided by the barrel 27 of the nozzle unit 12, for which purpose an electrical igniter 44 of conventional type is entered beneath a protective housing 45 through a wall of said barrel in the path of fuel ejection from the jets 43 and is served by an actuating current supply lead 46 disposed generally parallel to the line 26 through the tube 32, conduit 10, and nozzle sleeve 28 under selective control by the operator, whereby to apply energization of the igniter 4-4 at the option of the operator to initiate combustion of the fuelair-rnixtures generated interiorly of the barrel 2'7. Regulation of air delivery to and through the conduit 10 in consequence of impeller operation is conveniently had,

when and as desired, through the agency of a damper 47 pivotally housed in the throat 17 of the blower housing for angular adjustment about its pivotal axis into and away from obstructing relation with said throat, for which purpose the said pivotal axis of the damper may extend exteriorly of the throat as a straight stem 48 terminating in an actuating handle bend 43' and carrying a latch finger 49 coactable at times with a keeper 5%) fixed in position to retain the damper in open flow relation with the throat. The damper 47 is primarily useful to initiate combustion of liquid fuel delivered by the jets 43 when the organization is applied to use as a Weed burner, since with the impeller 13 and pump 23 operating and the damper closed across the throat 17 the consequently-reduced supply of air through the conduit 10 and past the jets 43 conduces to the generation of a fuel-air mixture amenable to ignition by energization of the igniter 44-, whereaiter the said damper may be opened to sustain ejection of flame from and outwardly well beyond the nozzle 12.

7 Obviously, the single mounting stafl 39 requisite for operative support of the conduit, blower unit, nozzle unit, and tube assembly is susceptible of attachment in upright position to and in expedient removable and replaceable association with suitable elements and areas of a translatable carrier, such as an automotive vehicle, in any appropriately feasible manner and by any preierred means, all as is well within the known and usual skill of the pertinent art. With the mounting staff in place, the assembly of conduit, blower unit, nozzle unit,

and tube is simply and conveniently mounted in use a position thereon through the engagement of the socket fitting with the upper end or" the stafl and is then ready for use as above set forth; separation of the asembly from its mount being correspondingly simple and convenient. With the pump connected to a supply or" fluid and the prime mover operating, a powerful and concentrated ejection of the resulting fluid-air mixture issues from the nozzle outlet for directed impingment at the option of the operator against objectives at considerable distance from the apparatus, thus qualifying the latter in consequence of its adjustability in both vertical and horizontal planes to service extensive areas at each side of, behind, below, and above the carrier, particularly when the latter is in forward motion. The divergent throat and arcuately-associated sleeve continuation of t re blower unit, the attachment of the blower and nozzle units telescopically over and exteriorly about the ends of the conduit, and the convergent connector joining the nozzle unit outlet to and coaxially of the barrel are each and all material in contributing to and maintaining high operative efiiciency of the apparatus in every useful adaptation thereof, and are especially significant in the promotion of exceptional efiiciency when combustible fuels are admixed and fired at, and ejected as flame from, the nozzle unit.

Since changes, variations, and modifications in' the a form, construction, and arrangement of the elements shown and described may be had without departing from the spirit of my invention, I wish to be understood as being limited solely by the scope of the appended claims, rather than by any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention:

1. Equipment of the character described comprising a straight, rigid, elongated, tubular conduit, a powered blower and fluid pump unit detachably engaged with and for delivery within one end of said conduit, a nozzle unit detachably engaged with and to receive output from the other end of said conduit, means forming an outlet terminating said nozzle unit in spaced alignment with the conduit, a reinforcing tube end-clamped to said blower unit and conduit and spanning the longitudinal balance point of the conduit, blower and fluid pump unit, and nozzle unit assembly in spaced parallelism with the conduit, an output line from said pump housed in and through said tube and extending thence to the interior of the conduit adjacent the nozzle unit, fuel jet means terminating said line within the conduit for delivery longitudinally thereof to the interior of the nozzle unit,

and bracket means transversely embracing and adjustable longitudinally of said conduit and tube separably coactable with the upper end of a vertically-fixed stem to dirigibly mount the assembly of conduit, blower and fluid pump unit, nozzle unit, and tube for adjustment in both horizontal and vertical planes on and relative to said stem.

2. The organization according to claim 1, wherein the blower of said blower and pump unit and said nozzle unit telescopically and exteriorly embrace the opposite ends of the conduit to thereby preserve without restriction the full flow capacity of the latter.

3. The organization according to claim 1, wherein the blower of said powered blower and pump unit is constituted as a housed impeller directly powered for rotation about a generally-vertical axis and is distinguished by a spiral divergence of the housing interior wall from one are of the impeller definitive of a throat tangential of the impeller, which throat arcuately merges for de livery of impeller-induced air flow with and terminates in a tubular sleeve continuation thereof substantially radial of the impeller adapted to telescopically receive an end of the conduit.

4. The organization according to claim 1, wherein the blower of said powered blower and pump unit is constituted as an annular, spiral-walled housing arcuately merging from its major diameter to a substantially radial, tubular sleeve continuation adapted to telescopically receive an end of the conduit, an impeller revoluble about a generally-vertical axis in and eccentrically of said housing to therewith establish an expanding throat tangential of the impeller terminating in said tubular sleeve continuation, and wherein said powered blower and pump unit includes a prime mover fixed to the upper side of said housing in direct driving relation with said impeller, and an air inlet concentric with the impeller in the under side of said housing.

5. The organization according to claim 1, wherein the blower of said powered blower and pump unit is constituted as an annular, spiral-walled housing arcuately merging from its major diameter to a substantially radial, tubular sleeve continuation adapted to telescopically receive an end of the conduit, an impeller on and revoluble with a generally-vertical shaft journaled eccentrically in an extending entirely through said housing, whereby to establish within the housing an expanding throat tangential of the impeller terminating in said tubular sleeve continuation, and wherein said powered blower and pump unit includes a prime mover fixed to the upper side of said housing in direct driving relation with said impeller shaft, an air inlet concentric with the impeller in the under side of said housing, means supporting said pump from and spacedly beneath the under side 6 of the housing, and a direct driving connection between the impeller shaft and said pump.

6. The organization according to claim 1, wherein said nozzle unit is constituted as a cylindrical barrel diametrically greater than the conduit in shouldered relation at one end with a coaxial, exteriorly-projecting sleeve adapted to telescopically receive an end of the conduit, the means forming the outlet terminating the nozzle unit is a tubular member of flow capacity equal to that of the conduit, and an outwardly-convergent, frusto-conical connector joins the so-formed outlet member to, coaxially with, and in projection outwardly from the end of said barrel remote from said sleeve.

7. The organization according to claim 1, wherein said nozzle unit is a cylindrical barrel diametrically greater than the conduit formed to shouldered relation at one end with a coaxial, exteriorly-projecting sleeve adapted to telescopically receive an end of the conduit and to outwardly-convergent relation at its other end with a coaxial, outwardly-projecting tube forming the outlet member in a flow capacity equal to that of the conduit, said barrel operatively mounts an electrical igniter to function inwardly adjacent the shoulder-related sleeve, and a lead for selective supply of energy to said igniter connects therewith from housed accommodation in and through said tube.

8. The organization according to claim 1, wherein the means forming the outlet terminating the nozzle unit is a tubular, outward extension from said unit coaxial with and of a flow capacity equal to that of the conduit, which extension connects with and supports a tubular deflector having an inclined end closure, a discharge aperture intersecting its side wall acutely convergent with said end closure, and an open end remote from said closure telescopically engaged over and angularly adjustable about the free end of said tubular, outward extension.

9. The organization according to claim 1, wherein the bracket means efiective to operatively relate the assembly of conduit, blower and pump unit, nozzle unit and tube with and in support upon the upper end of a verticallyfixed stem is formed as a pair of like, complementary clamp components interengageable by means of through fasteners transversely of, in spanning relation between,

' and embracingly over opposed reaches of said conduit and tube adjacent the longitudinal balance point of the assembly, apertured lug extensions terminating said components in overlying registration at and radially of the side of the tube remote from the conduit, a transverselyapertured yoke embracing the registered lugs, a bolt interconnecting said yoke and lugs through the registered apertures thereof, said bolt being perpendicular to the plane containing the axes of the conduit and tube, and a cylindrical socket fixedly terminating said yoke with its axis radial of said bolt and its open end directed away from the yoke.

10. The organization according to claim 1, wherein spaced, parallel handles conjoined at their corresponding ends by a bow in a plane perpendicular to that common to the handles are aflixed to the under side of the blower and pump unit to extend therebeyond parallel to and oppositely from the associated conduit with their bow conjunction depending in clearing relation with and spanning protectively beneath elements and features appurtenant to and associated with said unit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,925,164 Woolery Sept. 5, 1933 2,094,854 Smith Oct. 5, 1937 2,839,047 Davisson et al June 17, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 552,119 Great Britain Mar. 24, 1943 661,254 Great Britain Nov. 21, 1951 

1. EQUIPMENT OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING A STRAIGHT, RIGID, ELONGATED, TUBULAR CONDUIT, A POWERED BLOWER AND FLUID PUMP UNIT DETACHABLY ENGAGED WITH AND FOR DELIVERY WITHIN ONE END OF SAID CONDUIT, A NOZZLE UNIT DETACHABLY ENGAGED WITH AND TO RECEIVE OUTPUT FROM THE OTHER END OF SAID CONDUIT, MEANS FORMING AN OUTLET TERMINATING SAID NOZZLE UNIT IN SPACED ALIGNMENT WITH THE CONDUIT, A REINFORCING TUBE END-CLAMPED TO SAID BLOWER UNIT AND CONDUIT AND SPANNING THE LONGITUDINAL BALANCE POINT OF THE CONDUIT, BLOWER AND FLUID PUMP UNIT, AND NOZZLE UNIT ASSEMBLY IN SPACED PARALLELISM WITH THE CONDUIT, AN OUTPUT LINE FROM SAID PUMP HOUSED IN AND THROUGH SAID TUBE AND EXTENDING THENCE TO THE INTERIOR OF THE CONDUIT ADJACENT THE NOZZLE UNIT, FUEL JET MEANS TERMINATING SAID LINE WITHIN THE CONDUIT FOR DELIVERY LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF TO THE INTERIOR OF THE NOZZLE UNIT, AND BRACKET MEANS TRANSVERSELY EMBRACING AND ADJUSTABLE LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID CONDUIT AND TUBE SEPARABLY COACTABLE WITH THE UPPER END OF A VERTICALLY-FIXED STEM TO DIRGIBLY MOUNT THE ASSEMBLY OF CONDUIT, BLOWER AND FLUID PUMP UNIT, NOZZLE UNIT, AND TUBE FOR ADJUSTMENT IN BOTH HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL PLANES ON AND RELATIVE TO SAID STEM. 